Isha Upanishad 7

7

īśā vāsyamityādayo mantrāḥ karmasvaviniyuktāḥ /
teṣāmakarmaśeṣasyātmano yāthātmyaprakāśakatvāt /
yāthātmyaṃ cātmanaḥ śuddhatvāpāpaviddhatvaikatvanityatvāśarīratvasarvagatatvādi vakṣyamāṇam /
tacca karmaṇā virudhyeteti yukta evaiṣāṃ karmasvaviniyogaḥ /
na hyevaṃ lakṣaṇamātmano yāthātmyamutpādyaṃ vikāryamāpyaṃ saṃskāryaṃ kartṛbhoktṛrūpaṃ vā yena karmaśeṣatā syāt /
sarvāsāmupaniṣadāmātmayāthātmyanirūpaṇenaiva upakṣayāt /
gītānāṃ mokṣadharmāṇāṃ caivaṃ paratvāt /
tasmādātmano 'nekatvakartṛtvabhoktṛtvādi cāśuddhatvāpāpaviddhatvādi copādāya lokabuddhisiddhakarmāṇi vihitāni /
yo hi karmaphalenārthī dṛṣṭena brahmavarcasādinādṛṣṭena svargādinā ca dvijātirahaṃ na kāṇakubjatvādyanadhikāraprayojakadharmavānityātmānaṃ manyate so 'dhikriyate karmasviti hyadhikāravido vadanti /
tasmādete mantrā ātmano yāthātmyaprakāśanena ātmaviṣayaṃ svābhāvikamajñānaṃ nivartayantaḥ śokamohādisaṃsāradharmavicchittisādhanamātmaikatvādivijñānamutpādayanti /
ityevamuktādhikāryabhidheyasambandhaprayojanānmantrānsaṃkṣepato vyākhyāsyāmaḥ /

One who lords it over is Īṭ;footnote{Īṭ is derived from the root īś, meaning "to rule" or "to have power".} Īśā, by Īṭ, by the Lord. He who is the supreme Ruler and supreme Self of all is the Lord. For as the indwelling soul of all, He is the Self of all beings and as such rules all. (So) Īśā (means) by that Lord, in His true form as the Self; vāsyam, should be covered. What (is to be covered)? Idam sarvam yat kiṁ ca, all this whatsoever; jagat, moves; jagatyām, on the earth. All this is to be covered by one's own Self, the Lord, through His supreme reality (present in the realisation): "As the indwelling Self (of all), I am all this": all that is unreal, whether moving or not moving, is to be covered by its own supreme Self. As the adventitious bad odour of sandal, agaru, etc., resulting from moisture etc., because of their contact with water etc., is covered up by their natural smells through the process of rubbing those woods themselves, just so, (whatsoever moves on the earth will be abandoned through the contemplation of the Self which is the supreme Truth). "Whatever moves" means the apparent duality, the effect of ignorance, which is characterised by such ideas as doership, enjoyership, etc., and which is superimposed on one's own Self; and the phrase "on the earth" having been used illustratively (for all the worlds), it follows that all the bundle of modifications known as name, form, and action will be abandoned through the contemplation of the Self which is the supreme Truth. He, who is thus engaged in the thought of the Self as God, has competence only for renouncing the three kinds of desire for son etc.,footnote{For son, wealth, and worlds (vide Bṛ. IV. iv. 22).} and not for karma. Tena tyaktena, through that detachment. Tyaktena means through detachment, (and not "by any abandoned thing"); for a son or a servant, when abandoned or dead, does not protect one, since he has no connection with oneself. So the meaning of the Vedic word (tyaktena) is "through renunciation". Bhuñjīthāḥ, protect. You who have renounced desires, mā gṛdhaḥ, do not covet, do not cherish any desire for wealth. Do not long for kasya svid, anybody's—either your own or somebody else's; dhanam, wealth—this is the meaning. The word svit is a meaningless particle. Or the meaning is this: Do not covet. Why? Kasya svid dhanam, whose is wealth?—this (question) is used in the sense of a denial, because nobody has any wealth which can be coveted. The idea is this: All this has been renounced through this thought of the "Lord", "All this is but the Self", so that all this belongs to the Self, and the Self is all. Therefore do not have any hankering for things that are unreal.

Introduction: The (Vedic) mantras (verses) beginning with Iśāvāsyam have not been utilised in karma (rituals etc.), for they serve to reveal the true nature of the Self, which is not an appendage to karma. The real nature of the Self consists in Its purity, sinlessness, oneness, eternity, incorporeity, omnipresence, etc., which will be indicated later on (Īś. 8). As that (nature) would conflict with karma, it is but natural that the verses are not applied to karma; for neither is the Self in Its real nature, as defined, a thing to be created, transformed, achieved, or purified, nor is It of the nature of an agent or enjoyer, whereby It could become a factor in karma. Moreover, all the Upaniṣads exhaust themselves simply by determining the true nature of the Self, and the Gītā and the scriptures dealing with mokṣa (the emancipation of the soul) have only this end in view. Accordingly all karmas have been enjoined by assuming such qualities for the Self as multiplicity, agentship, enjoyership, etc., and impurity, sinfulness, etc., which common sense takes for granted. For people who are versed in the science dealing with competence (of people treading this path) say that a man is qualified for karma when he hankers after the results of karma, be they of this world in the form of spiritual eminence etc., or of the hereafter in the form of heaven etc., and thinks of himself thus: "I am a twice-born man and am free from such defects as being one-eyed or hump-backed which stand in the way of one's competence for karma." Therefore these verses remove inherent ignorance through the revelation of the true nature of the Self, and thereby produce the knowledge of the oneness etc. of the Self, which is the means for the uprooting of sorrow, delusion, etc., incidental to mundane existence. We shall briefly explain these (Vedic) verses for which have thus been determined the competent students, the subject matter, the relation between the Vedic text and the subject matter and the purpose.footnote{One who wants emancipation is the competent student; the identity of the individual self and the absolute Self is the subject matter; the relation of the Vedic text and the subject matter consists in the former being the revealer of the latter; and the purpose is the removal of ignorance and the attainment of supreme Bliss.}